§ Mr. Ammonasked the Home Secretary whether any steps have been taken to instruct in their duties justices who sit in the juvenile courts?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonYes, Sir. It is the practice of the Home Office to send to juvenile court justices information about the procedure in juvenile courts, the provisions of the Children and Young Persons Act, and the methods of treatment available to juvenile courts, including in particular the probation system and education and training in approved schools. There was also sent to them in 1941, the joint memorandum on the subject of juvenile offences issued by my right hon. Friend, the President of the Board of Education, and myself in 1941. Prints of the lectures bearing on their work which have been given under the auspices of the Clarke Hall Fellowship have been sent to them; and within the last few months there has been distributed a Clarke Hall Fellowship pamphlet written specially for juvenile court justices by Mr. Leo Page.
With the cordial support of the justices themselves and their clerks, and often on their initiative, many conferences have been organised, with the help of the Home Office, in different areas. Recently there was held the first of a new series of conferences arranged between the Home Office and the Magistrates' Association, whose ready co-operation on this and on many other occasions I much appreciate. The Home Office is also anxious at all times to facilitate visits by justices to other juvenile courts and to schools and other institutions of which they may avail themselves. Members of the Probation Branch of the Home Office, who often have the advantage of meeting justices in the course of their duties, are always ready to help them on request with information and advice.